Blood Bag Bride, Alpha's Late Regret

For three years, I lived under the title of Luna of the Shadow Phantom Pack.

But everyone knew I was nothing more than Sophia's replacementa blood bag she needed to survive.

Alpha Zane guarded her, my parents favored her, and even the Silver Moon Necklace that should have been mine was casually dismissed by him as "returning it to its rightful owner."

I once thought that if I was obedient enough, humble enough, someday they would see me and feel sorry for me.

But now, I've finally woken up.

I'm going to dissolve the mate bond, leave the pack, and from now on, live only for myself.

Mira POV

When the cold needle pierced my skin, I was already used to not crying out in pain.

I lay numbly on the hospital bed, watching my blood flow through the tube, drop by drop, into that glaring blood bag.

Zane stood not far away.

The high and mighty Alpha of the Shadow Phantom Pack. My mate.

At this moment, he was staring intently at that blood bag, his eyes filled with a heartache I had never received.

"Draw it faster."

He coldly ordered the doctor, not even sparing me a glance as I lay there, deathly pale.

"Sophia is still waiting."

Hearing that name, my heart couldn't help but throb with pain.

Sophia, the true precious daughter of the Silver Moon Pack.

She was the one who was supposed to wear the wedding dress and marry Zane in the arranged union.

But after an attack by a rogue wolf, the wolfsbane poison completely destroyed her blood and completely ruined my life.

I was sent to Zane's territory as a cheap replacement, packaged and delivered.

Everyone in the territory respectfully called me Luna.

But only I knew it was nothing more than a pathetic joke.

Because Zane's heart had always belonged to Sophia.

Vial after vial of fresh blood was drawn from me.

I watched Zane carefully protect those blood bags as he turned and left, then closed my eyes in despair.

After a long time, I slowly opened them again.

What greeted me was the pure white ceiling of the hospital. My wrist was wrapped in thick gauze.

The wolf within me felt like it had fallen into a death-like slumber.

The door to the hospital room was suddenly shoved open, and a middle-aged couple strode in, their faces showing undisguised impatience.

They were my biological parents, the Alpha and Luna of the Silver Moon Pack.

"Mira, you'd better take care of that body of yours. Listen carefullyyour life exists to save Sophia."

His voice was cold as ice, cruelly crushing the last bit of hope in my heart.

Yes, in their eyes, I had never been their daughter.

My mother's voice was even more cutting. "Drop that pitiful look! Don't forget, the Luna position you're occupying belongs to Sophia! If Sophia hadn't been poisoned, it would never have been your turn!"

"Enough, don't bother with her. Sophia still needs us."

My father snorted coldly.

They turned and left, never once looking at me again from start to finish.

I lowered my head and touched the blood-soaked gauze on my wrist, letting out a self-mocking laugh.

Zane returned, and I thought he was going to have them draw my blood again.

He walked straight to my hospital bed, impatiently furrowing his brow, lowering his voice as if granting me charity.

"As long as you continue obediently giving blood to Sophia, I promise that in a few days, I'll officially mark you."

I looked at him, the corner of my lips curving into a cold smile.

"Really? What a generous compensation."

He froze for a moment, seeming to find my reaction somewhat unusual today, but Sophia left him no time to care. In the end, he said nothing and turned to leave.

The next day, after the blood draw, my face was as white as paper, so weak I could barely stand.

I believed this would be the last time I gave blood to Sophia.

Through the glass window, I clearly saw Zane walk to Sophia's bedside and gently tuck in her blanket.

The whispered gossip of a few nurses nearby reached my ears clearly.

"Luna Mira is so pitiful. They're both Alpha's daughters..."

"Who told Alpha Zane to only have eyes for Miss Sophia? She's nothing but a walking blood bank. How pathetic."

So this was the life I had been living all alongwithout love, and without dignity.

My nails dug deep into my palms, yet I felt no pain.

I supported myself against the wall and slowly walked to Zane.

"Are you coming back to the main house tonight? I've prepared a gift for you."

"A gift?"

His expression instantly darkened, his eyes full of disgust.

"Sophia is still suffering in that hospital bed, and you still have the mood for these pleasing tricks? Do you even have a heart?"

"If you're not coming back, forget it."

My tone remained calm.

"It wasn't anything important anyway."

"Stop with your ridiculous schemes. I don't need them."

He coldly cut me off, turned, and quickly walked back to Sophia's hospital room.

Don't need them?

You'll need this "gift" soon enough.

Walking out of the hospital doors, I mind-linked my exclusive pack lawyer.

"Prepare a mate dissolution agreement for me."

Mira POV

The next day, I discharged myself from the hospital alone.

As I walked out of the hospital building, I passed by Sophia's VIP room.

Through the half-open door, I saw Sophia leaning against the headboard. Though her face was pale, her smile was radiant and endearing.

My parents surrounded her bed, asking after her health with concern.

And Zane sat on the edge of the bed holding a bowl of herbal medicine, patiently feeding it to her spoonful by spoonful.

They looked like a complete, happy family.

I withdrew my gaze and turned to leave.

I returned to the house Zane had assigned to me.

This wasn't the main house, because he had never officially marked me, nor did he allow me to set foot in his true territory.

I walked into the bedroom and began packing my pitifully few belongings.

When I pulled open the bottom drawer of the nightstand, I discovered an old phone with a cracked screen.

As if possessed, I turned it on.

The phone had no password. I clicked on a memo titled "Secret."

Inside were densely written records of every detail from the past three years.

Today was my mating ceremony with Zane, but he didn't kiss me or mark me. In the evening, Sophia suddenly coughed up blood. He left me alone in the bridal chamber and never returned all night.

Today they drew 400cc of blood. My head is so dizzy. Mom came to see Sophia and brought her favorite desserts. I asked Mom if I could have a piece too. She said it was specially made for Sophia and there was none for me.

Zane smiled at me today. Although it was only because I voluntarily offered to draw an extra vial of blood for Sophia as backup. As long as he's happy, I'm willing to give any amount of blood.

It hurts so much... Why won't they love me no matter how hard I try? What do I have to do for them to just look at me?

...

Line after line, word after wordall evidence of how that girl named Mira had endured endless neglect and torment.

She had humbled herself into the dust, trying to please those who would never love her with her own blood.

Looking at those words, I couldn't stop my eyes from stinging. Tears fell onto the cracked screen.

I felt sorrow for that foolish version of myself.

I took a deep breath, raised my hand, and forcefully wiped the tears from my face.

I stood and walked to the full-length mirror.

The woman in the mirror was pale and thin, her wrists still wrapped in glaring bandages, like a withering rose.

I stared at myself in the mirror, my eyes gradually becoming clear and resolute.

I threw that old phone into the trash.

"It's okay if no one loves you, Mira."

I said softly but firmly to myself in the mirror.

"From now on, you need to love yourself."

To hell with being a walking blood bank. To hell with Zane.

I was no longer that pitiful creature begging humbly for love.

I was going to take back my own life.

Mira POV

A mind-link forcibly cut into my mind, carrying my mother's blunt accusation.

"You're not even planning to show up at Sophia's birthday party tonight?"

Birthday?

The wolf within me paced back and forth irritably. She had already issued an impatient command:

"Whatever your excuse is, seven o'clock tonightbe there on time!"

As soon as she finished speaking, the mind-link was forcibly cut off.

I didn't want to go.

But thinking it over, I was leaving soon anyway. There was no need to cause trouble at the last moment.

So I picked out a black dress and had the driver take me to the birthday party venue.

The entire Silver Moon Pack banquet hall was brilliantly lit.

When I arrived, the party was at its liveliest.

The center of attention was Zane and Sophia standing in the middle.

Sophia wore a white gown, like a carefully tended rose.

Although the attack years ago had left her poisoned with wolfsbane, causing severe blood disease, sustained by regularly drawing my blood, her face now glowed especially rosy with joy.

And Zanemy mate in name onlyhis gaze never left her from start to finish.

"I heard Alpha Zane personally supervised the wolf guards for three days and nights to prepare a surprise for Sophia."

Amid the guests' chatter, I watched Zane kneel down and willingly adjust Sophia's hem for her.

The smile on his face held a tenderness I had never seen.

That scene had once been like a silent knife.

Suddenly, the lights converged on the stage.

My father, the Alpha of the Silver Moon Pack, announced radiantly, "I've decided that Sophia will soon inherit the entire Silver Moon Pack, including all the pack's wealth and trust fundseverything will be inherited by my daughter Sophia alone!"

The entire hall erupted in shocked murmurs.

As his other daughter, I received nothingnot even a mention of my name?

Probing, pitying, and schadenfreude-filled gazes shot toward me in the corner.

But the most shocking part was yet to come.

Zane led Sophia onto the stage and opened a velvet box.

Inside was the Silver Moon Necklace, symbolizing the Luna identity of the Shadow Phantom Pack.

"Isn't it said that only successive Lunas can wear it?" a pack member exclaimed.

Under the shocked gazes of everyone present, Zane personally placed that necklace around Sophia's neck.

"Zane, this is too precious," Sophia covered her mouth, looking down at the audience timidly. "This should be Mira's."

My mother immediately chimed in. "Mira is already Alpha Zane's mateshe doesn't lack these things. You're weak and need her blood to sustain you. This compensation is only right and proper."

Zane's gaze swept across the audience below, cold as ice.

"If not for that accident years ago, the one standing by my side today, becoming Luna, should have been Sophia all along. This necklace is merely returning to its rightful owner."

The words "rightful owner" felt like a slap across my face.

The pack guests' snickering was like ants, gnawing away at my last shred of dignity.

I looked at the happy family of several people on stage, at Sophia's triumphant eyes and Zane's heartless face.

At this moment, I felt no turmoil in my heart whatsoever.

No heartache, no sadness, not even anger.

I turned and silently walked toward the exit.

"Look, Luna Mira is crying," whispers came from behind me.

I didn't stop walking and entered the restroom.

In the mirror, that face had not a single tearcalm as a deep sea.

So after your heart dies, it really doesn't hurt anymore.

These people, these thingsto me, they were already an irrelevant past.

I pulled at the corners of my mouth in the mirror.

Just endure a little longer. Once the mate dissolution agreement is ready, I can leave completely.

Mira POV

I came out of the restroom and turned into a secluded balcony off the main house to get some air.

The moment I stepped in, I froze in place.

In the shadows, Zane was pinning Sophia against the wall, kissing her intensely.

The thick Alpha scent in the air made the wolf within me instinctively tremble.

"Zane... will Mira be upset..." Sophia whimpered. "I saw hershe seemed to be crying..."

Zane released her, his thumb rubbing her swollen lips. "Whether she's upset or not has nothing to do with me."

He looked at her, enunciating each word. "Sophia, the only Luna candidate in my heart has always been you and you alone."

My face felt itchy. I reached up to touch it and found tears.

"Maybe it's my past self mourning," I thought.

I left expressionlessly.

Not long after returning to the banquet hall, Sophia rushed over excitedly.

"Mira, the necklace Zane gave me is missing! Did you take it?" Her eyes reddened. "A wolf guard saw youyou were the only one who went near my seat!"

My father and mother immediately rushed over.

"Mira, did you steal the necklace?" my father demanded harshly, his Alpha pressure bearing down directly.

My mother slapped me hard across the face.

"You've made the Silver Moon Pack lose all face! Hand it over now!"

My cheek burned with pain. I looked at my so-called biological parents, watched them trample me like this for a sister who had been drinking my blood for years, and felt only absurdity.

"I didn't take it."

I defended myself.

"Still lying!" My mother commanded the wolf guards. "Search her! Even if you have to strip her clothes off, find that necklace!"

Two burly wolf guards roughly grabbed me.

During the struggle, my dress tore, exposing my pale shoulder.

The surrounding guests let out mocking laughter.

Just then, a wolf guard suddenly pulled the necklace out of my handbag.

"Found it!"

Sophia took it back with tears in her eyes, looking wounded. "Mira, I know you're upset. If you really wanted it, you only had to ask and I would have given it to you. Why did you have to steal it?"

With one sentence, she sealed my guilt.

Zane slowly approached.

He didn't look at anyone else. His gaze fell only on me, his voice icy.

"Why steal it?"

A supremely mocking curve appeared at the corner of his mouth.

"I've never considered you my mate. Don't you know that?"

"Things that don't belong to you will never belong to you, even if you steal them."

The ultimate humiliation engulfed me.

Just when everyone thought I would break down, I suddenly laughed.

The laugh was soft, but it made Zane's expression change.

I raised my head and met his cold gaze.

"I didn't steal it."

I looked at him, enunciating each word as if using all my strength:

"Alpha Zane, I, Mira Glace, reject you as my mate."

Watching his pupils suddenly contract, I added coldly:

"Since I'm rejecting you now, you're nothing to me. Why would I steal that necklace?"

Mira POV

My rejection declaration plunged the entire hall into deathly silence.

On Zane's handsome face, the mocking expression froze for an instant, then transformed into an even deeper sneer.

He released suffocating Alpha pressure, looking down at me from above.

"Don't want to be my Luna anymore?"

He laughed scornfully.

"Mira Glace, you've played this playing-hard-to-get trick no less than a hundred times. Give it a rest. I don't love you and never will."

The surrounding pack members immediately echoed, not hiding their mockery.

"Using this method to attract the Alpha's attention again. Truly disgusting."

"Who does she think she is? She hasn't even been marked by the Alpha. Everyone knows Sophia is the Luna Alpha Zane chose. If not for the wolfsbane poisoning, how could Zane possibly look at Mira, this walking blood bag?"

Contemptuous gazes and harsh comments wrapped around me like a net.

My father's face turned iron-blue.

To show loyalty to Zane and for the pack's interests, he barked an order to the wolf guards:

"Guards! Throw Mira Glace into the dungeon!"

The dungeonthat was where the Silver Moon Pack imprisoned rogue wolves and traitors. Cold and damp.

My pupils contracted sharply.

I couldn't be locked up. My escape plan had just begun!

"Let me go! You can't do this to me!"

I struggled hoarsely.

But from prolonged blood draws for Sophia, my body was already extremely weak. My resistance was useless.

I turned my desperate gaze to Zane. "Zane, you can't let them do this to me!"

"Why can't I?" A cruel sneer curved Zane's lips.

I wanted to say, because I'm still your mate in name, the Luna of the Shadow Phantom Pack.

But before I could speak, a wolf guard impatiently raised his hand and struck hard at the back of my neck.

Sharp pain hit me, my body went limp, and my consciousness plunged into complete darkness.

...

The bone-chilling cold woke me.

I lay on the icy stone floor, surrounded by darkness, permeated with heavy smells of blood and mold.

This was the dungeon.

I couldn't die here.

A strong survival instinct supported me. I dragged my drained body toward where I remembered the iron door to be.

"Open the door... is anyone there..."

I hoarsely pounded on the heavy iron bars.

Outside the doorno response.

Just as I was about to despair, the sound of high heels approached from far to near.

"Mira, are you in there?"

Sophia's voice came through the iron door, carrying a strange pity.

"How pitiful. You're the legitimate Luna, aren't you?"

My heart was stabbed hard.

Sophia looked down at me condescendingly and continued mockingly. "But what good is a Luna in name only? The one who isn't loved is the most pitiful. From beginning to end, you've been nothing but my blood bag."

She let out a light laugh.

Just then, a phone rang.

Sophia took out her phone. Seeing the caller ID, she smiled with satisfaction.

She pressed speakerphone, and Zane's deep voice came through.

"Sophia? Where are you?"

Sophia immediately switched to a soft, pitying tone. "I... I wanted to come to the dungeon to check on Mira."

Zane's nervous and heartbroken voice instantly came through. "That place is cold and dark. What are you doing there? Come up quickly. Your body can't handle the cold."

"Mm, I'm coming out now."

Sophia gave me a triumphant look and hung up.

I felt my breathing begin to freeze.

He knew the dungeon was cold and dark, yet he didn't care at all that I, his "Luna" who had just had blood drawn, had been locked in here for a full day.

Just like countless times before, I thought my compromise and sacrifice could earn a shred of his mercy, but in his eyes, I was just using tired old tricks again.

But this time, I wasn't using tricks.

Because I could finally stop loving him completely.

The last bit of strength in my body was drained. I slowly closed my eyes, allowing myself to sink into endless darkness.